Do You Ever Miss God?

[Rhondazvous]

Great question.  I recently met with a family where mom who was thirty six years old just died of cancer.  She died leaving a spouse and two children.  The family was devastated but focused on the fact that, "god will take care of mom" and they will all meet in heaven.  Members of the church were present and the support / love in the room was amazing.  Nothing in this life is tougher then losing a loved one.  I felt a variety of emotions.  One was feeling sad that the family was deluding themselves and not facing the reality of the situation.  The second was appreciation / relief that they had something to hold onto to help them cope with such a traumatic loss.  Being an atheist can be tough in that we try to face the world with out god or magic.  Sometimes I miss the God but in the long run truth is better.
Marktzu

There's the rub. We can't throw the facts at people who choose to deal with life with delusions. All of us experience emotions and empathy won't allow us to be callous towards those who are suffering.

But I find it impossible to take comfort in the god I read about in the Bible or the Koran. It would be like a chicken turning to a fox for comfort because he can't deal with all the fighting in the hen house.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Do You Ever Miss God?

Nope, I'm a fair shot.

[Ravenshire]

Miss gawd? Occasionally. But, I just move closer and/or steady my aim.

[ComradeMeow]

Everytime I talk to an atheist I wish I was religious still. Too much poop flinging for me to desire the label of atheist.

[ErikB]

I define God as compassion, the antidote to distress. It's a union of empathy and sympathy, and self-compassion is about understanding yourself and caring enough about yourself to alleviate your own distress. Self-compassion allows you to never miss God or to feel that someone else is exploiting your beliefs because you're in control. Simple as that. People who believe in anyone else's definition of God seem to be worrying too much about how they're behaving, thinking, and so on. Sounds pretty stressful, definitely something I'd prefer to miss out on.

[Silver]

I never miss believing in the existence of the christian god.

However, sometimes I miss believing in the pagan goddess.

The christian god is a monster, so I cannot miss believing in him.

The pagan goddess is not a monster, so far as I know.